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Published on 10 Comments on Who's the daddy?

Ok, no-one wants to touch Preaching Groups.  I respect that.

Let's return to the parables. 

By now we know.  Jesus is the man who found treasure, the merchant looking for fine pearls and He's the good samaritan.  So now we turn to the most famous parable.

And what shall we call it?  The prodigal son?  Of course not, there are two sons.  Well then how about that for a title - the two sons?  Perhaps.  But are they really the focus?  Why not call it what Michael Ramsden tells us many oriental cultures call it: The parable of the running father.

Clearly it's the father who is the hero of the story.  Going out to meet the younger and then the older son, the father's deepest passion is to reconcile his estranged children to himself.

And both children definitely need to be reconciled.  The younger son may have asked for the inheritance but the older son also takes it when it's offered (Luke 15:12).  They've both taken the fruits of the death of their father and have spurned their filial relationship with him.

Physical distance and a slave relationship characterizes both sons, it's just more obvious with the prodigal.  The younger son puts a lot of distance between he and his father but the basis on which he returns is thoroughly calculating.  He plots to return as a hired hand and uses a form of repentance very reminiscent of Pharaoh's counterfeit repentance in Exodus 10:16.  Everything in the story up until the father's embrace shows that the prodigal prefers to be a slave at a distance than a son in the father's arms.

And that is just as true of the older son.  We find him out in the field, refusing to go in (physical distance).  And again, how does he perceive his relationship to his father?  "All these years I've been slaving for you." (v29)  Physical distance and a slave relationship mark both sons.  The only difference is how the two sons receive the approach of the father.  The one melts in the arms of his father, the other remains angry outside the house.

And now to turn to the title of this post: Who's the daddy?

Well, you've heard it preached numerous times I'm guessing.  What did the preacher say?  The father is God right?  I mean it's obvious isn't it?  We call God 'Father' and here's a story of a reconciling father - it must be God.

Well don't forget how Luke 15 begins.

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering round to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them." 3 Then Jesus told them this parable...  (Luke 15:1-3)

The occasion for the three stories - lost sheep, lost coin, reconciling father - is the grumbling of the Pharisees.  Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them, and the religious complain about it.  So then Jesus tells a story about a man who welcomes a sinner, eats with him, and someone complains about it.  Well now - who is the younger son?  The sinners and tax collectors of course.  Who is the older son?  The Pharisees and teachers of the law of course.  And who is the father who eats with one and is complained to by the other?  Jesus of course.

Jesus is the father.  Plain and simple.  Jesus is the father.  Jesus is the good shepherd (v4-7), he's the good woman (v8-10), he's the good father (v11-32).  It just seems blindingly obvious don't you think?  And have we been confused on this simply because of the role 'father'?  Well Jesus casts himself as father even in the Gospels - 'Son, your sins are forgiven... Daughter, your faith has healed you.'  He has children (Is 8:18; 53:10; Heb 2:13; see also Luke 7:35).  If He can be a woman and even a mother hen, it's not at all inappropriate for Him to be pictured as father.

But perhaos there's this objection: Doesn't this rob us of the story's potential to reveal to us the Fatherhood of God.  Well no it shapes our understanding of it properly.  Surely we want to understand God the Father in God the Son.  And this parable helps us do that very well.  As we see Jesus running to the lost and eating with sinners we can hear Him saying "I do none of this by myself, I am doing only what I see My Father doing."  But the fact remains we see the Fatherhood of God in Jesus, who is the central character - portrayed as father.  The story is about Jesus - the Jesus who goes out to reconcile both the religious and the irreligious to bring them in. 

Does this matter?  Well yes.  What if the story is spun in the usual manner - i.e. the father = God and those who come to their senses will get back into his good books?  Well if that's the story then we've just described Islam not the gospel. Kenneth Bailey puts the case for the Muslim interpretation like this (h/t Matt Finn)

“Their case can be stated thus: In this parable the Father obviously represents God while the younger son represents humankind. The son leaves home, gets into trouble and finally decides to return to his Father. He “yistaghfir Allah” (he seeks the forgiveness of God). On arrival the Father welcomes the son and thus demonstrates that he, the father, is “rahman wa rahim” (merciful and compassionate). There is no cross and no incarnation, no “son of God” and “no saviour”, no “word that becomes flesh” and no “way of salvation”, no death and no resurrection, no mediator and no mediation. The son needs no help to return home. The result is obvious. Jesus is a good Muslim who in this parable affirms Muslim theology. The heart of the Christian faith is thus denied by the very prophet Christianity claims to follow. Islam with neither a cross nor a saviour preserves the true message of the prophet Jesus”.

The Cross and the Prodigal, Kenneth Bailey, p15

But no, Jesus is at the very centre of this drama.  And His reconciliation is unlike anything Allah could or would offer.  He goes out, He bears the shame, He pleads, He appears weak and He celebrates sinners.  This is not prompted by the sinner's repentance, which was calculating at best, but by His own reconciling love.  Take this together with the other two stories which form a single 'parable' according to verse 3 and what do you have?  You have (as Barth put it) the father going into the far country to hoist the lost onto his shoulders and bring them home.  Luke 15 is no Christ-less, cross-less forgiveness tale.  Christ and His cross is the heart of it all.

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Matt's posts on the parable are great.

Michael Ramsden's sermon is extraordinary preaching (though, if I'm picky, a bit vague on the point at issue here)

Keller's sermon is wonderful (though, again, not as straightforward on this point as I'd like).

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Published on Leave a comment on Who’s the daddy?

Ok, no-one wants to touch Preaching Groups.  I respect that.

Let's return to the parables.

By now we know.  Jesus is the man who found treasure, the merchant looking for fine pearls and He's the good samaritan.  So now we turn to the most famous parable.

And what shall we call it?  The prodigal son?  Of course not, there are two sons.  Well then how about that for a title - the two sons?  Perhaps.  But are they really the focus?  Why not call it what Michael Ramsden tells us many oriental cultures call it: The parable of the running father.

Clearly it's the father who is the hero of the story.  Going out to meet the younger and then the older son, the father's deepest passion is to reconcile his estranged children to himself.

And both children definitely need to be reconciled.  The younger son may have asked for the inheritance but the older son also takes it when it's offered (Luke 15:12).  They've both taken the fruits of the death of their father and have spurned their filial relationship with him.

Physical distance and a slave relationship characterizes both sons, it's just more obvious with the prodigal.  The younger son puts a lot of distance between he and his father but the basis on which he returns is thoroughly calculating.  He plots to return as a hired hand and uses a form of repentance very reminiscent of Pharaoh's counterfeit repentance in Exodus 10:16.  Everything in the story up until the father's embrace shows that the prodigal prefers to be a slave at a distance than a son in the father's arms.

And that is just as true of the older son.  We find him out in the field, refusing to go in (physical distance).  And again, how does he perceive his relationship to his father?  "All these years I've been slaving for you." (v29)  Physical distance and a slave relationship mark both sons.  The only difference is how the two sons receive the approach of the father.  The one melts in the arms of his father, the other remains angry outside the house.

And now to turn to the title of this post: Who's the daddy?

Well, you've heard it preached numerous times I'm guessing.  What did the preacher say?  The father is God right?  I mean it's obvious isn't it?  We call God 'Father' and here's a story of a reconciling father - it must be God.

Well don't forget how Luke 15 begins.

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering round to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them." 3 Then Jesus told them this parable...  (Luke 15:1-3)

The occasion for the three stories - lost sheep, lost coin, reconciling father - is the grumbling of the Pharisees.  Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them, and the religious complain about it.  So then Jesus tells a story about a man who welcomes a sinner, eats with him, and someone complains about it.  Well now - who is the younger son?  The sinners and tax collectors of course.  Who is the older son?  The Pharisees and teachers of the law of course.  And who is the father who eats with one and is complained to by the other?  Jesus of course.

Jesus is the father.  Plain and simple.  Jesus is the father.  Jesus is the good shepherd (v4-7), he's the good woman (v8-10), he's the good father (v11-32).  It just seems blindingly obvious don't you think?  And have we been confused on this simply because of the role 'father'?  Well Jesus casts himself as father even in the Gospels - 'Son, your sins are forgiven... Daughter, your faith has healed you.'  He has children (Is 8:18; 53:10; Heb 2:13; see also Luke 7:35).  If He can be a woman and even a mother hen, it's not at all inappropriate for Him to be pictured as father.

But perhaos there's this objection: Doesn't this rob us of the story's potential to reveal to us the Fatherhood of God.  Well no it shapes our understanding of it properly.  Surely we want to understand God the Father in God the Son.  And this parable helps us do that very well.  As we see Jesus running to the lost and eating with sinners we can hear Him saying "I do none of this by myself, I am doing only what I see My Father doing."  But the fact remains we see the Fatherhood of God in Jesus, who is the central character - portrayed as father.  The story is about Jesus - the Jesus who goes out to reconcile both the religious and the irreligious to bring them in.

Does this matter?  Well yes.  What if the story is spun in the usual manner - i.e. the father = God and those who come to their senses will get back into his good books?  Well if that's the story then we've just described Islam not the gospel. Kenneth Bailey puts the case for the Muslim interpretation like this (h/t Matt Finn)

“Their case can be stated thus: In this parable the Father obviously represents God while the younger son represents humankind. The son leaves home, gets into trouble and finally decides to return to his Father. He “yistaghfir Allah” (he seeks the forgiveness of God). On arrival the Father welcomes the son and thus demonstrates that he, the father, is “rahman wa rahim” (merciful and compassionate). There is no cross and no incarnation, no “son of God” and “no saviour”, no “word that becomes flesh” and no “way of salvation”, no death and no resurrection, no mediator and no mediation. The son needs no help to return home. The result is obvious. Jesus is a good Muslim who in this parable affirms Muslim theology. The heart of the Christian faith is thus denied by the very prophet Christianity claims to follow. Islam with neither a cross nor a saviour preserves the true message of the prophet Jesus”.

The Cross and the Prodigal, Kenneth Bailey, p15

But no, Jesus is at the very centre of this drama.  And His reconciliation is unlike anything Allah could or would offer.  He goes out, He bears the shame, He pleads, He appears weak and He celebrates sinners.  This is not prompted by the sinner's repentance, which was calculating at best, but by His own reconciling love.  Take this together with the other two stories which form a single 'parable' according to verse 3 and what do you have?  You have (as Barth put it) the father going into the far country to hoist the lost onto his shoulders and bring them home.  Luke 15 is no Christ-less, cross-less forgiveness tale.  Christ and His cross is the heart of it all.

.

Matt's posts on the parable are great.

Michael Ramsden's sermon is extraordinary preaching (though, if I'm picky, a bit vague on the point at issue here)

Keller's sermon is wonderful (though, again, not as straightforward on this point as I'd like).

Here's my attempt at a Luke 15 sermon

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA0-syI-rE0?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent]

Audio Download

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Published on Leave a comment on Free to follow

Not sure it ever happened (happy to be contradicted), but what a good illustration as heard in this morning's sermon by Neil Green (my vicar).

Abraham Lincoln was once at a slave auction.  A young girl was being sold, naked but for her shackles.  Lincoln was so distressed by the thought of her being bought by any of the rabble present that he bid for her himself.  As the price went up and up, Lincoln continued to outbid the rest and eventually he paid top dollar for her.  The girl was brought to Abe, petrified of what a man who paid so much would want with her.  Lincoln took off his great black cloak and clothed her saying 'You're free.' 

The girl couldn't believe it.  She said 'You mean I can go?' 

He said 'Yes'. 

'I can marry anyone I want?' 

'Yes.'  

'I can work anywhere I like?' 

'Yes' 

'I can go anywhere I please?' 

'Yes.'  

'Then,' she said, 'I will go with you.'

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Published on Leave a comment on No worries

From this sermon on Luke 12:1-12...

What is the most common command in the Scriptures? 

Fear not.  Do not be afraid. Hundreds of times in the whole bible - the message is repeatedly given "Don't worry." 

But we do.  All the time.  About everything.

I bet if I asked you to make a list of things you were worried about at the moment, you could reel off at least five without thinking about it. If I gave you enough time you'd fill a sheet of paper with worries.  We are fearful people.  And Jesus knows us.  So He keeps on persisting with this teaching, till maybe some of it sinks in. 

In Luke 12 we are told not to worry 6 times:

 

4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid

 

7  ...Don't be afraid

 

11 "When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry

 

22 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life

 

26 ... why do you worry?

 

32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.

 

The repetition tells you - we've got a problem with fear.  But it also tells us, Jesus has a solution to fear. 

But Jesus' solution to fear is different to our gut reactions to fear. 

We usually have one of two gut reactions to fear.  One reaction is to take the Nike logo to heart - Just Do It.  You're afraid, so what, just do it.  Notice that Jesus doesn't tell us that.

Everytime He says ‘Don't be afraid' He gives us a reason not to be afraid. And in this chapter it's always one of two reasons.  He says ‘Don't worry, God is very powerful.' Or He says ‘Don't worry, God loves you very much.'  He's very powerful, He's very loving - those are reasons not to worry and Jesus wants those truths to sink down into our hearts until the worry goes.  So Jesus does not say ‘I don't care if you're afraid, just do it.'  Jesus wants to address our fears, He wants us to examine them and to replace them with a confidence in His Father's power and love.  

The other reaction we have to our fears is simply to run from them.  If our first reaction is the stiff upper lip, this reaction is the cowardly retreat.  Our fears dominate our lives so that we never do anything scary and we just live very dull lives, never risking anything. 

Sometimes I've spoken about fears and people have said to me ‘I don't fear anything.  I'm not the kind of person that gets worried.'  My next question is - What risks do you regularly take?  When do you make yourself vulnerable to others?  How do you engage with and serve this broken world?  When have you tried to get new initiatives off the ground?  How often do you back a cause that won't necessarily be popular?  When do you take moral stands? And this is the one that really bites:  How often do you speak up for Jesus even when it won't be popular? 

Inevitably the answers to those questions are - I don't.  A person who says they have no fear is almost always a person who is very controlled by fears.  They live a life of humdrum mediocrity, with very few highs, very few lows, they don't speak out for Christ, they don't stand up for Him, they don't give their hearts and their service to others, they surround themselves with safety and comfort and in fact every aspect of their life is controlled by fear.  The cowardly retreat from fear is very common.  It's in all of us.  It's what stops us from being the radical disciples that Jesus calls us to be.

We're not the people we want to be because of our fears.  It's not that we've looked at the way of Jesus and said ‘I'd be perfectly happy doing that, I just don't really fancy it.'  We've looked at it and said ‘I can't do that - I'm petrified of living that life.'

And that's why Jesus keeps coming to us saying - ‘Follow me and don't be afraid'.  He doesn't say ‘Follow me and stuff your feelings'.  And He doesn't say ‘Don't bother following me if you're scared.'  He commands both: ‘Follow me and don't be afraid.'

And this puts us onto one of the deepest truths about fear.  Freedom from fear does not come by staying safe.  Freedom from fear comes as you put yourself in danger.  It's so counter-intuitive which is why we so rarely experience freedom from fear.  We try to find freedom from fear by avoiding all conflict and danger.  But you don't find peace there - not God's peace anyway.  You find God's peace on the front lines.  God's peace comes in war.  Freedom from fear comes as you take up your cross daily and follow Jesus to Golgotha.

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For more, go to my sermon on Luke 12:1-12

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Published on Leave a comment on What do you give the person who has everything?

Penicillin.

arf arf.

But seriously folks... Nick Cornell, fellow Eastbourne curate, asked us last night at our joint prayer meeting: What do you give to a people who already have everything?

Because Ephesians 1:3 says we are that people.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places

We have it all.  So what does God our Father give to His children who already have everything?  Ephesians 3:14:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 

That's what God gives His children who have everything.  A deeper understanding of what they already have.

Isn't that a brilliantly simple and powerful description of the Spirit's work?

Good one Nick.  Somebody give that man a blog.

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Published on Leave a comment on Love is the greatest thing… or is it?

Ok, another little example of engaging with non-Christian world-views.  This is from a wedding sermon I gave a few weeks ago.  The great majority of the congregation were not Christians. The couple asked me to speak from 1 John 4:7-12.  I'll quote a part of the sermon and then make some comments.  (Just so you know I've tweaked the last paragraph since giving the sermon.)

................

Why is virtually every film, every TV show, every novel, every pop song obsessed with people falling in love and getting together?  If they're not obsessed with falling in love and getting together, they're obsessed with falling out of love and drifting apart.  You can't get around it: this kind of committed, mutually self-giving relationship consumes our culture and consumes our hearts.

Why?  Why do all the songs say ‘Love is the greatest thing'? 

Craig and Debbie know.  That's why they chose this reading from the bible.  Why does the world say ‘Love is the greatest thing.'??  Because God, the greatest thing, is love. 

That's the famous phrase from our reading.  Verse 8: "God is love."  Coming into church this afternooon you may not have known any verse of the bible - now you know one.  "God is love."

God's not just in a long-term relationship.  God is an eternal relationship of committed love.  God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit love one another, uphold one another, pour their life into one another from eternity past to eternity future.

The committed love of marriage is a faint picture of the incredible love that binds the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Whether you believe in Him or not, whatever concept of God you've brought to church this afternoon, allow it to be shaped by God's own word.  God is love.

God doesn't just do love.  God is love.  His very existence is an existence of love.  Love is the very stuff of His being.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are who they are because they are constantly giving and receiving love.

Why do the songs say love is the greatest thing?  Because the greatest thing, God, is love.  To put your finger on the ultimate pulse of reality you will find the committed love of these three Persons.  Of course the whole world sings of love.  How could it not?! 

But here's the terrible tragedy.  The world doesn't know why love's the greatest thing.  And so the world is left with this groundless, abstract thing called love.  It becomes a mere feeling for us to praise and magnify, and, in all probability, to watch slip through our fingers.  Love, without this grounding in God, becomes only a sentiment to be admired.  But if that is all that love is, then today is robbed of it's meaning.  If love is just a feeling, we may well smile at the happy couple, we will praise their participation in this grand myth called love.  But then we'll go home wondering if there's any real substance to it all.  But to all that, the bible says Perish the thought!!  Love has a grounding.  As verse 7 says "Love comes from God".  That's why Craig and Debbie want us to think about these verses.  The God who is love will breathe meaning back into that old cliche that 'love is the greatest thing'.  And in doing so He will provide a foundation not only for Craig and Debbie's marriage but for all of our lives.  So let's pay attention to these verses for the next couple of minutes...

................... 

Four observations.

First, the Christian can take upon their lips non-Christian sentiments and use them truly.  But in doing so we commandeer those propositions and press them into a quite different service.  So 'love is the greatest thing' on the lips of a non-Christian means what?  Well it could mean many things but at the end of the day it effectively boils down to 'love is God.'  Love itself becomes the object of worship.  But what does 'love is the greatest thing' mean on the lips of a Christian?  Well in the kind of context I tried to give in the sermon, it becomes testimony to the entirely different truth 'God is love'.

Secondly, I really mean it when I wonder out loud How can the world not sing of love?  I am happy to draw attention to this universal sentiment that 'love is the greatest thing.'  But I will tell the non-Christian that he or she doesn't really know why it's their sentiment.  And that even the terms of that sentiment are distorted into falsehood.  'Love is God' seems a hairs-breadth from the truth, in fact it's idolatry.  And idolatry is not a stepping stone to true worship.

Thirdly, none of this depends on agreeing with a non-Christian definition of love.  It's not a case of saying 'Hey, you love love, I love love, everyone loves love.  Lemme show you the best love.'  We can't do that because verse 10 describes love in terms that are completely off our natural radar screen.  According to God's word, love is bloody, sacrificial, atoning death.  And that for enemies.  I've never found the non-Christian who will agree to that definition of love in advance!  We simply do not share a common understanding of love from which we can argue to divine reality. 

Fourth, I'm very fond of that kind of phrase: 'Allow yourself to be told...'  I don't know where I first picked it up but it's kind of my whole theology of revelation.  Preaching (but in fact all speaking of Christian truth) is declaring with divinely delegated authority: 'Allow yourself to be told something you do not know, could never anticipate and will never have under your belt...  Put yourself in the path of this meteor from above...  Receive something that you absolutely do not already have in your grasp.'  It is news that we tell.  Revelation.  I try to have my rhetoric shaped by that.

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Published on Leave a comment on Trivial pursuits

Here's an evangelistic talk I gave last year.  I'm giving a version of it again in a fortnight so any critique would be gratefully received (especially in light of our recent discussions).  It was given at the half-way point of a pub quiz...

............................................................

I don't really think this quiz is fair.  I'm not doing half as well here as I do in London quizes.  I think it might have something to do with my mobile phone reception.  I tell you - the blackberry has trasformed the pub quiz has it not?  Not so much a quiz as an internet research challenge.

But I'm sure that no-one here would do something so under-handed!

I'm Australian - I just say that because you might listen in and think I have an accent.  You'd be wrong, I don't have an accent - you have the accent.  I speak perfectly normally.   I've lived here in the UK for about 12 of the last 14 years... give or take the odd deportation.

I have to say though that Australia and England share a common love of quizzes.  We're all trivia lovers.

I love trivia.  When I was growing up my favourite book was called ‘the Big Book of Amazing Facts.'  And it was full of all sorts of trivia like the fact a squid has three hearts and a sheep has six stomachs and all polar bears are left handed and if you folded a sheet of paper 20 times you'd reach the moon but of course you can't because you can only fold a piece of paper 7 times.  All those sorts of trivial facts fascinated me.

And trivia fascinates us as a culture.  We're a very prosperous culture and a very safe culture today.  In the history of the world we have never lived at a more prosperous time or a safer time and on planet earth there are few places that are richer or more secure than right here, right now.  And in the absence of great life or death issues, our culture loves to stare at its own navel. 

And so our best selling books are Sudoku puzzles and cook books and trivial lists called miscellanies.  When you look to TV all our prime-time programmes are diets and cooking programmes, make-overs, celebrity nannies and reality TV.  Of course reality TV is just trivial TV isn't it.  Dull, lifeless, drab and excruciatingly boring.  We are fascinated with the trivial.

Now it's fine to like trivial books and trivial tv, and it's fun to test our trivia knowledge.  But wouldn't it be a tragedy if you got to the end of your life and the verdict on it was "Trivial"!  That would be a very great tragedy. 

But the scary thing is - all it takes to live a trivial life is for you to try very hard and be very productive and very successful at irrelevant things.  That's all it takes to waste your life - simply to ‘major on the minors' as the Americans say. If you work hard at the side issues in life, your life is trivial.  If you miss the main thing in life, you could be very industrious, very determined, very successful even but you would have utterly wasted the life God's given you.  I don't want it said of anyone here on the Day coming that really matters - ‘your life was trivial.  You missed the main thing.'

I want us to think about four words from the Bible this evening.  They come from a letter in the New Testament written by the Apostle Paul.  He writes to Christians and he says to them:

CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE.  Christ is your life.

In 1998 my mother bought me a T-Shirt she'd bought at a London market.  The T-Shirt had a cricket bat and a cricket ball on it, and it just said ‘Cricket is Life: The rest is mere details.'

This is because, at the time, cricket consumed my life.  I was never happier than when chasing a small red ball around a park.  Cricket was the driving passion of my life and every other priority in life had to give way.  Friends, girlfriends, certainly school and university study - they all very much took a back seat, because cricket was my LIFE - the rest was mere details...

Now you are thinking - what a trivial pursuit - cricket!  Is there anything more boring? 

Groucho Marx once went to a cricket match at Lord's and halfway through the match he turned to his host and said "And when will the actual game begin."  Cricket is dull.  Cricket is trivial.  But it was my life.

Do you know what I have to show for my years devoted to cricket?  Any cricket fans here may know of Wisden which is the cricketer's almanac recording the more serious games of cricket that take place in the world.  There have been 144 editions of the Wisden cricketing almanac and they each hold over a thousand pages.  I am on one of those pages.  Halfway down p886 of the 136th edition of the Wisden cricketing almanac my name appears in 6-point font.  And it's mis-spelt.  That's what I have to show for years and years of obsessive devotion to cricket.  You know what that means for those years - they were trivial.

And you know how I felt when I hit a level of cricket that was just too good for me and I got dropped from the team?  I wanted to die.  Cricket was life and when I failed at cricket I didn't just fail at a sport I failed as a person.  That's how it felt.  Because cricket was my life.

Whatever you devote yourself to has the power of life or death over you.  So what about you? What's your trivial obsession.  I've told you mine, now it's your turn, let's get up one by one...  What's your life?  What's on your T-shirt?  What do you day-dream about, when you're doing the washing up or standing in the supermarket queue or the last thought at night.  What do you think ‘if only I had that then everything would be ok.'  What is it in your life that you think, ‘if I lost that, I wouldn't want to live.'  That's your life.  And that thing - whatever it is - has the power of God over you.  If it comes through for you it feels like life, if it fails you, it feels like death.  What's on your t-shirt?  What is your life?

It might be something much more noble than cricket.  I'm sure it is!  Perhaps it's your job, perhaps it's your friends, perhaps it's your spouse or your family.  But whatever it is - your life orbits around that thing.  But let me assure you there is nothing on earth strong enough to take the gravitational forces you're putting on it.  Family, friends, loved ones will all fail you - they'll either let down or they'll get sick and die.  But one way or another, if they are your LIFE, your world will come tumbling down. 

Our Bible verse says there's only one thing that ought to be your life.  CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE.

But wait.  Maybe you don't think Christ is strong enough to be the centre of your world.  Perhaps you don't think this Galilean carpenter would make a very good life!

Well the bible insists He is far more than a Galilean carpenter.

In the book where this verse is found it says this.  "ALL THINGS WERE MADE BY CHRIST AND FOR CHRIST"

Jesus is not just the founder of Christianity.  Jesus is the founder of the universe.  He is not just 2000 years old, He was there in the beginning.  Everything came FROM Jesus and it is all FOR Jesus.  The Bible insists that Jesus is our Creator and He is the Goal of all things.  "All things were made by Christ and for Christ."

How can we get our head around that?  Imagine this.  Imagine a child blowing a bubble through a bubble ring. That's a bit like creation.  Because God kind of blows the bubble of creation out through Jesus Christ.  A bubble ring defines and shapes the bubble and Jesus Christ defines and shapes the universe.  All things were made by Him and for Him.

You might have all sorts of questions about that.  That's fine, Christ Church exists as a place where you can ask those questions and get answers.  But that's what the Bible says - "All things were made by Christ and for Christ".  You were made by Christ and for Christ.

Therefore the BIG question about whether you're living a trivial life is this:  Are you FOR Jesus Christ?  Are you FOR Him?  Do you know Him, do you know Him as your goal, the meaning of your life, are you for Him?  If you're not then you might be doing a thousand good things - but you're not involved with the main thing.  The main thing is Jesus.  Christ is your life... the rest is mere detail.

Imagine you were invited to Buckingham palace for tea with the Queen.  You come back and all I want to do is ask you about what she was like, what she said, was she nice, was she bored, was Philip there, did he offend anybody??  Imagine you come to me and say, "I couldn't be bothered with the Queen or any of them.  But, my gosh, let me tell you about the tea!"

I don't care about the tea, and you shouldn't either. You're invited to the palace to meet the Queen.  And you exist on planet earth to meet Christ.  Christ is your life - if you're missing Him you're in grave danger of living a trivial life.

When I failed at cricket - that was a gift from God.  He showed me that I was trying to find LIFE in a place it was never meant to be found.  He showed me I was living a trivial life.  He used this massive disappointment to make me realise the MAIN thing in life.

But what about you?  What is your driving passion?  

Most of my wife and my friends are not Christians.  And we have seen with them at least three different driving passions.  The first passion was obvious - we met at university and so what did we talk about when we got together?  Parties.  We'd tell each other the best parties we'd been to, how drunk everyone got, the drugs everyone took.  Parties were life. 

Eventually my friends stopped partying so much.  Why? Did they get religion or something?  No, they'd just found a new driving passion - it was called career.  Then every time we met up they'd brag about how many hours they were working.  They'd say ‘I work 60 hour weeks. I work 70 hour weeks.  I go to work in a nappy just to save on bathroom breaks.' It got ridiculous. 

But you know, eventually they're getting over their workaholism.  How?  They've got new will-power? No they've got a new passion.  And the new passion is family.  So now they're up to their eye-balls in nappies and competing with the other mum's over who's the cutest, smartest, most likely to marry a footballer.  Now ‘Family is life, the rest is mere details.'

But the point is this:  No-one ever gives up on one driving passion without being convinced that there is a better driving passion on offer.  No-one gives up the ‘My job is my life' t-shirt without being assured that there is a better t-shirt with a better life to put on.

For me, it took a time of great depression to realise, my life wasn't working.  I'd tried the academic success t-shirt, I'd tried the sporting success t-shirt, I'd tried the women t-shirt.  And they all failed me.  All of those things are GREAT in their own place.  Friends, relationships, family, job, sport, success they're all great in their own way - but they are not life.  And what it took was for me to pick up the Bible and meet Jesus Christ in it.  In Jesus I found a centre to my life big enough to take the weight of my hopes and expectations.

You'll only make Christ your life if you see Him in all His glory.  And the Bible is a book that shows off the glory and the wonder of Jesus.  It tells you that Jesus MADE the universe AND He stooped down to become a man.  It tells you He rules over all creation AND He humbles Himself onto a bloody cross.  It tells you He is worthy of all praise and service AND He comes and serves us.  You've never met anyone like Jesus.  But you need to meet Him - He needs to be the centre of your life.  So why not come along to Christ Church tomorrow morning. Why not commit to coming to church and finding out who this Jesus is.  Find out why He is the central figure of all history.  Find out why the calendar revolves around HIS birth.  Find out why He commands more allegiance than any other human figure.  Come and meet Jesus Christ and then everything else falls into place - friends, family, work, play.  Your life will find it's true order when Jesus is at the centre. 

Well those are just a few thoughts from me.  I hope you're enjoying your evening and that you enjoy your trivia. Trivia's fun, but I hope our lives revolve around someOne far more worthy.

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Published on Leave a comment on Having a stake in your theological position

Bobby writes here about the dangers inherent in confessionalism

I particularly liked this phrase:

I’m not saying that our various traditions and confessions aren’t important, but that “our” stake in those confessions is unimportant.

It's so true that we have a stake in our theological positions and Christian labels.  We find identity in the alignments we make within the body.

This is what can make Christian blogging so darned nasty at times!  Let's be honest - there's a lot of unChristian-ness on Christian blogs.  Why?  Well a lot of it is because we're not just discussing ideas out there.  We have a stake in our positions.  We justify ourselves through our theology.  We have bought into our tribe and our tribal identity.  We know where we stand in the world because we wear the colours...  And this bozo over here is flying a different flag.  And it's so hard to hear what they say because they're not dressed up as one of you.  It's easier simply to shout out "You're a blue tribe, I'm a red tribe."  But what has that achieved?  Only to re-inforce our party-spirit, to demonize and to distract our attention from the actual content of our Christian witness.  

Paul faced exactly this with the Corithians:

"I am of Paul"  "No, no, I am of Apollos" (1 Cor 3:4).

The "I" is very prominent here. We beat our chests and find strength in our parties.  

And Paul's answer? 

"You are Christ's!" (v23) "And in Him, Paul and Apollos are yours! (v22). 

When you understand you don't belong to Christian teachers or factions but to Christ, there's a tremendous liberation.  I'm not a "red tribe" man.  I belong to Jesus.  "The LORD is my banner" (Ex 17:15)

And free from the need to beat my tribal drum I can see Paul and Apollos and Cephas for who they are - just servants of Christ.  I don't belong to them, they belong to me.  Everything they say is mine in Christ.  All their good stuff doesn't belong to them, it belong to Christ and in Christ it's mine. 

We don't have a stake in our theological positions.  We belong only to Jesus.  Every other position belongs to us. 

21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.  (1 Cor 3:21-23)

 Here's a sermon of mine on exactly this point: 1 Corinthians 3

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Published on 20 Comments on Paul Blackham sermons and other links

No other preacher has had a bigger impact on me.  Not only theologically but also in terms of what preaching actually is.

The sermon invariably begins 'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.'  The preaching of the Word of God is the Word of God.

Immediately he states the passage.  It's the Scriptures that define the event.

The conclusion is always "Therefore to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be ascribed all the glory, all the power, all the majesty, all the honour, all the praise and all our love, now and forever, Amen."  The whole thing is worship.

In between, the content is exposition (most often verse by verse) and the manner is strongly declarative, strongly devotional and strongly Christ focused.   Perhaps most refreshing of all, the over-riding tone of the sermon is a child-like enthusiasm for Christ and the Scriptures that is far removed from the world-weariness of many military-briefing-style preachers.

I've linked to some of my favourite Blackham sermons on my new "Other Sermons" page. (It's a tab at the top).  I've also put "My sermons" on a page, but do yourself a favour and work your way through these other sermons - awesome stuff.

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Paul's website.

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Sermons from All Souls, Langham Place

Sermons from Tarleton Farm Fellowship

Some Favourite sermons:

Genesis 3:1-15

"What of those who have never heard?" Colossians 1:15-23

"Why isn't good good enough?" Philippians 3:1-11

Luke 7:11-16

Daniel 3

2 Peter 3:11-18

Ephesians 3:14-21

Ephesians 6:10-24

Other talks and lectures:

"Faith in Christ in the Old Testament"

Five talks on the Cross

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